By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An appeal has been made to the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) not to embark on their planned 5-day warning strike from January 16, 2017.
Making this appeal was the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige, on behalf of the Federal Government.
Mr Ngige urged the unions to shelve the strike action “in the interest of the nation.”
The Minister, in a statement, noted that the government was “willing to fully dialogue with the members of these trade unions, operating under the umbrella of Joint Action Committee.
He said government has already opened an unhindered channel of communication with all Stakeholders and shall maintain this.
According to him, he convened a “meeting of all stakeholders in dispute for us to ventilate all issues and reach amicable settlement” on Monday, but unfortunately, “the trade unions requested for a different date, and the meeting now re-scheduled for Wednesday, January 18, 2017.”
He said the FG “therefore expects that the trade unions should suspend the strike before the re-scheduled meeting to make way for untrammeled discussions.”
“It is important for trade unions to embrace social dialogue in the pursuit and attainment of the economic and social interests of their members anchored on equity and natural justice.
“I hence thought it necessary to remind the trade unions that there is nothing like a ‘warning strike’ in our National Industrial Relations System (NIRS), a strike is a strike and is subject to all the rules governing strike in the world of work.
“Accordingly, the provisions of Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act, CAP. T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN), 2004, will apply regarding the law of ‘no work no pay by workers/employees notwithstanding any other circumstances in any section of the Act.’
“Once more, I wish to appeal to the trade unions to embrace dialogue as the Federal Government is fully committed to peaceful resolution of what the unions termed ‘Full Implementation of 2009 FGN/Non – Teaching Staff Union’s Agreement’.” The Minister said.